


Perceived Obsolescence

by CosmicTanzanite



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Although both of them would never admit to it, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fenton is heavily mentioned throughout the story as Gyro's husband but never actually appears, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Mention of Animal Death, Robots, robot death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 05:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18204371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicTanzanite/pseuds/CosmicTanzanite
Summary: A lot of things can change over the course of many years, one of the most prominent being technology. Gyro has slowly learned that not everything that held up back when he was in his prime will still hold up today, even the things he loved and cherished most. Luckily, he has the perfect successor to help him out.





	Perceived Obsolescence

**Author's Note:**

> I did this for a drabble challenge on Tumblr and ended up really loving it, so I decided to post it here as well! I've been thinking about how the kids would be when they're older for the past few days, and the idea of Lena taking Gyro's place is something very dear to me. I hope you all enjoy this!
> 
> Warning: this work revolves around what's essentially a character death and contains a brief mention of animal death. Please tread carefully!

It had been several years, decades even since Lena had successfully gained a physical form and began her work as an apprentice under Dr. Gearloose. After realizing that she could become her own person without the fear of Magica breathing down her neck at every turn, she accepted that magic just wasn’t her thing despite her upbringing. Her time spent under the care of the inventor had caused a newfound interest in science and robotics to sprout in her brain, and years of learning turned Lena into what Gyro referred to as “his perfect successor.” And in a way, that’s what she had become.

While he did still technically work for Scrooge, it was becoming more and more apparent that Gyro was getting too old to do the amount of work he’d once been able to. Lena wasn’t sure how old her mentor and begrudging father figure was exactly, but he had to be well into his 70’s by now. He looked a lot different than he did when she first met him, due to both the fact that he’d completed his transition since then and of course, age. As much as he didn’t want to admit, his age was becoming more and more prominent. 

The number of accidents Gyro had in the lab had doubled since he was much more brittle in his old age. He also got tired a lot sooner and was unable to work some days when he originally would come into work every day of the week, even most Sundays. The chicken still wanted to work for as long as he could without dropping dead, but retirement was sneaking up on him and getting closer by the second. 

Fenton, his husband and coworker who also played a part in both raising and teaching Lena, had retired from both his job as a scientist and Gizmoduck about half a year ago. He was still pretty capable, but he could tell the job had become too dangerous for someone his age. Not only that, but he wanted to spend the older years of his life traveling with Gyro. As Gizmoduck, he didn’t get the chance to leave Duckburg for more than about a week, and it was always something he felt like he was missing out on. That was also another reason that Gyro couldn’t be as present in the lab as much anymore, for he knew his presence on these trips meant the world to someone who meant the world to him. Luckily, Huey was more than honored to fill the role of Gizmoduck as soon as it was available and had been doing a pretty great job so far.

Therefore, Lena had more or less become the new head of research. It was unofficial until Gyro actually retired, which probably wouldn’t be until he was on his deathbed, but Scrooge was starting to primarily count on her. She’d recently been tasked with recreating a lot of her mentor’s older inventions that had stopped working over the years due to their technology becoming too outdated. Most of Gyro’s old inventions were no longer compatible with the times. Even Lil Bulb, the robot he’d invented far before he even knew Lena and who was more or less like a child to him, had been glitching out more than usual, and it was clear that even he wouldn’t be around forever. While it was a little hard, Lena could always reference Gyro’s blueprints for the modernizations. 

After taking a pretty nasty fall at work one day, Gyro had decided to stay at home the following day. Nothing was broken, but he was bruised pretty badly, and despite how many times he kept reassuring Lena that he was fine, she told him that she’d disown him as a father figure if he so much as showed up during lunch break for a chat. That being said, she made a promise to visit him and check up on him after work. Fenton was spending the day catching up with some family members who had come to visit him in Duckburg, so Lena knew the elderly inventor would probably be a bit lonely. 

When she arrived to the apartment he shared with Fenton, she rung the doorbell and waited for Gyro to answer. It took a bit longer than usual, but soon enough, the door opened and revealed her mentor. Although his face was normally wrinkled due to his age, there were bags under his eyes, and even his smile upon seeing Lena seemed to be masking something. She frowned. 

“Hey,” she greeted him, trying her best to grin despite her worry. 

“Hello,” Gyro replied, voice solemn. 

Lena stepped inside the apartment, and Gyro shut the door behind her. Being closer to him, she was able to take an even closer look at his face and noticed he looked even rougher than she’d initially thought. 

“You doing okay?” she asked. “How’s your battle wounds from that fall?”

“Fine,” Gyro reassured her, but something still looked off. 

“You sure? It looks like you haven’t slept in a decade.”

He gave a hum of acknowledgment. “Ah. I’ll be alright. Don’t worry.”

“It’s kind of hard not to. Something’s clearly wrong.” 

“I said don’t worry,” Gyro stressed, shooting Lena a glare that silently let her know he didn’t want to discuss what was bothering him right away. 

“Okay…” 

The duckling tried to think of a way to change the subject before remembering something and shoving her hand into the satchel she carried around her shoulder. “Oh, yeah! I got you that old man candy you asked for.”

Gyro perked up slightly. “Oh?”

“Yep!” Lena pulled a bag of circular hard candies out of her satchel, presenting them to Gyro. “Black licorice. Just how you like ‘em.”

A smile made its way across the inventor’s beak as he looked the bag over and took it from her. “Thank you, Lena. I’ll put these in the sweets cabinet.”

“What? You’re like permanently crouched over, dude. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to reach that without throwing your back out.” She looked around the apartment. “Where’s Lil Bulb? I’ll just give these to him, and he’ll put them up in the cabinet.”

Gyro didn’t say a word. Instead, he stared at Lena, expression possibly even more blank than it had been before.

“Gyro?” she questioned. “Is everything-”

“Lil Bulb stopped working this morning.” 

The news took a while to sink, and when it finally did, it still didn’t feel like reality. “What?”

Gyro let out a shaky breath before continuing, putting a hand on the kitchen cabinet to balance himself. “When I woke up this morning, I called for him to bring me the paper, and nothing happened. I got up to look for him, and found him on the kitchen table, completely motionless no matter what I did or said. I did notice that he was acting a little funny last night and couldn’t seem to move very far, but I didn’t think it was something a little tinkering couldn’t fix. I tried all I could, but I think he’s finally…” He gulped before continuing. “I-I mean, I know he was really just another one of my many inventions, but...he was special. I’m going to miss him.” 

He brought a hand up to raise his glasses up so he could wipe his eyes. Lena’s heart ached as she watched her mentor try not to break down in front of her over the loss of something so precious to him. She could tell he already had once before she arrived, probably more than that.

“Oh, Gyro,” Lena whispered, reaching a hand out to very gently pat his shoulder. “I’m really sorry. I know he meant a lot to you. We’re all gonna miss Lil Bulb.”

Gyro nodded, placing a hand over the duck’s. “Thank you, Lena. I...put him in a box and stowed it in the dresser for now.” He sniffled. “I haven’t told Fenton yet. I know he’ll be rather upset as well, and I don’t want to ruin any fun he’s having with his cousins.”

“That’s understandable. We can let him know tonight.” 

Heaving another sigh, Gyro began to slowly make his way toward the couch. Lena followed behind him for a few steps.

“Do you want me to fix you something to drink? Eat?”

“I haven’t had any coffee today, surprisingly,” he laughed, taking a seat on the couch and wincing. “But first, can you please get me a pillow? There’s a red one on my bed.”

“Sure! I’ll be right back.”

Lena made her way into Gyro and Fenton’s bedroom in search of the pillow. It was pretty easy to find, for it was right in the middle of her mentor’s side of the bed and the only one of its color there. When she grabbed it and began her walk out the door, however, something caught her eye and stopped her. 

Right above the dresser was a shelf. It was one she’d seen before, but something about it had changed. Lena walked over to it and began to look over the various objects it contained: a small cactus, a picture of Fenton and his M’ma, a newspaper clipping about Gizmoduck saving Duckburg from an explosion that took place back when Lena was still with Magica, a picture of Fenton and Huey in their respective Gizmoduck suits before Fenton had retired, a picture of Gyro and Fenton on their wedding day, another one of them on their honeymoon, one of them with Lena, one of Gyro, Scrooge, Della and Donald from back before the Spear of Selene incident even happened, the urn of Lil Mew, the last cat Gyro owned before she’d passed peacefully in her sleep after a long 20-something-year-old life, a picture of Gyro holding Lil Mew right next to her urn and finally, one more picture she didn’t recognize of Gyro, Fenton, Manny, Fethry and Lil Bulb. The small robot was perched on Gyro’s shoulder, just as he always loved to be.

Lena gulped, feeling a weight in her stomach as she looked down to the various drawers in the dresser. She knew she shouldn’t do this, but something urged her to open each and every one until she found the box Gyro was talking about. Although she didn’t want to open it, she took it out and looked it over. It had been carefully wrapped up by Gyro and had writing on the surface of it with Lil Bulb’s name, the date he was created and today’s date. Seeing it almost made Lena feel sick at first, but then, an idea began to form in her head. And it was becoming clearer and clearer as she sat there staring at the box in her hands.

Suddenly, a voice startled her from her thoughts. “Lena! What’s taking you so long? My back could be broken by now!”

“Coming!” she called, shoving the box back into the dresser but not before giving it a knowing smile and making a mental note to herself about a new project she’d be taking on as soon as tomorrow morning.   
  


\---

  
Gyro was surprised to hear the doorbell ring merely a few minutes after Fenton had left to get groceries. There was no way his husband had enough time to go to the store and come back already, but perhaps he’d forgotten something. Somehow he was even more forgetful in his old age than he was as a younger adult. 

However, to the inventor’s surprise, he opened the door to see no other than his successor Lena, looking positively exhausted yet still grinning as wide as she could muster and holding a cardboard box with a black ribbon tied around it. He raised an eyebrow and smiled, knowing she was up to something.

“Well, well, well,” he mused, letting her in, “look who decided to drop by.”

“Hey,” Lena greeted him. “What’s going on?”

“Not much,” Gyro informed her, shutting the door behind them. “I was just about to brew some coffee. You?”

“Oh, nothing, just whipping up a little something for someone special.”

“Interesting. Did you make Webbigail another gadget for her spy folies?” 

“Nope! Well, yes, but that’s not what’s important here.” Lena held the box out to him, smiling even wider. “Ta-dah!”

Gyro’s eyes widened as he accepted the gift, and he looked it over, adjusting his glasses. “This isn’t some kind of practical joke, is it?”

“Of course not!”

Although still skeptical, Gyro began to slowly untie the ribbon. That was, until he felt something move around in the box and almost dropped it. 

“Blathering blatherskite!” he gasped. “You didn’t get me a kitten, did you? Because as much as I do love cats, I’m still not sure if I’m ready for another one after-” 

“It’s not a cat or anything else that breathes,” Lena cut in, pushing the box closer to him. “Just open it, man! You’ll love it.”

He did as the duck asked, hastily untying the ribbon and bracing himself as he pulled the top off the box. When he saw what was inside, he had to stop himself from dropping it again out of pure surprise. Right in the middle of the box was a small robot that, save for the spiral-shaped lightbulb that functioned as its head and small, black shoe-like objects for feet, looked exactly like Lil Bulb.

For a moment, Gyro didn’t know how to react. He took the small bot out of the box and held it, blinking as he made the closest thing he could to eye contact with it. All while he was studying it, Lena was looking up at him with a very nervous grin plastered on her face. 

“Sooooooo,” she finally said, “you like him?”

Gyro gulped. “Lena...I...I- _ ow! _ ”

The sudden yelp from Gyro startled Lena, and she was alerted to the fact that the bot had grown unnaturally hot as a defense mechanism and was now leaping away from the older inventor’s hands as he let go. Before she could even speak, she felt something on her shoulder and found that somehow, the robot was now making himself comfortable there. 

“No! What are you doing!? We’ve been over this, man! You’re Gyro’s robot, not mine.” She reached a hand up to pry the bot off her, but he wouldn’t budge, digging his small fingers into the fabric of her shirt.

After a while of watching the other struggle, Gyro cut in. “Lena, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not!” she grunted, still trying to get the robot off her. “I made this little guy for you, not for me. I dug the old blueprints you used for Lil Bulb out of your files to make him so he’d be as close to him as he possibly could be, and I swear, just the other day, I was running tests on him to make sure he was operable, and he was doing everything I asked, everything! He’s been like, a little robot buddy for I dunno, a little over a week?” 

The chicken rolled his eyes. “Oh, Lena. Please, I-”

“Ugh, noooo!” Lena resorted to gently whacking the robot with her hand. “Get off me, Lil Helper! Go to Gyro!”

“You named him?”

“Well, yeah! I didn’t want to just call him Lil Bulb 2. That’s lame.” Finally, she managed to free the bot from her shoulder and held him out to her mentor. “If I leave him with you, he’ll really have no other choice. He’ll be warmed up to you like you were the first person he saw in a matter of hours if I leave him here, I just know it!”

Gyro took a few more seconds to study the invention before giving another soft chuckle and shaking his head. “Lena, I appreciate your sentiment, but that robot’s never going to listen to me.”

“Don’t say that! You’re Gyro freakin’ Gearloose, of course he will!”

“It doesn’t matter who I am as long as I didn’t create it.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t understand,” he continued, still glancing down at the bot. “If there’s one thing I learned from my time with Lil Bulb, it’s that those guys listen to their inventor and no one else.” A laugh escaped his throat. “Lil Bulb  _ never _ listened to anyone who wasn’t me, not even a little bit. The exact day he stopped working, I had to tell him to put creamer in Fenton’s coffee as well as mine. That robot is only going to listen to one person in the entire universe, and that person is you.” 

“Oh…” Lena heaved a sigh, looking down at Lil Helper again before putting him back on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Gyro. I really wanted to make you a new Lil Bulb, but-”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Gyro cut her off, putting a hand on her back. “Enough of that. I know you wanted to help me feel better, and thank you for that, but honestly, I’m never going to have another Lil Bulb. Even if I made another robot just like him, it wouldn’t feel the same. As much as I miss him, Lil Bulb is gone, and that’s just something I’m going to have to deal with.”

“But...I…” The duck looked away. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Gyro gasped. “Disappoint me? Lena, I am so proud of you for making this thing! Do you know how many times it took me to get Lil Bulb  _ that _ stable?”

Lena shook her head.

“Definitely more than a week and a half, that’s for sure!” He flashed her a warm smile. “Plus, I’m sure you’ve figured it out already, but those things are helpful in ways you wouldn’t even imagine. You’ve got yourself a new friend. Congratulations.” 

Although she still felt a little guilty that things hadn’t gone entirely as planned, Lena’s heart swelled at Gyro’s words, and she allowed a gentle smile to make its way to her bill. “Thanks, Gyro.”

The older inventor nodded and looked his successor up and down, the smirk on his beak growing as he did so and turning into something more devious. Lena cocked an eyebrow.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing,” he snarked. “I’m just realizing that looking at you is getting more and more like looking in a mirror as every day passes.”

Lena gasped, offended, and Lil Helper buzzed in response to his inventor’s sudden disgust. “Hey! Don’t you dare say that about me, you batty old dunderhead!” 

A chuckle left Gyro’s throat, and he messed with his glasses again, shaking his head as he continued to take in the image of a snarky young inventor with bad posture and bags under her eyes, now complete with a tiny little robot sitting on her shoulder.  

“Oh, hush. We both know anything I say isn’t going to alter reality.”


End file.
